The Work Is Paid Off – Garden Tour Day

Have I told you that I love my second job! Being allowed the privilege of maintaining a garden of such beauty and magnitude, and being given an opportunity to introduce new and exciting plant materials [read: some of my all time favourites!] is like a dream come true! Imagine then the thrill of preparing for a garden tour – a busload of people coming out of Toronto, led by Frank Kershaw no less! With all the finishing touches in place, all that was left was to sit back and wait for the onslaught of visitors to arrive! Priming and pruning during the week leading up to the grand event ensured that the gardens were at their peak in pristine beauty!

The fence line that introduces visitors to the potage was brimming with bloom: Rosa, Alcea, Allium [albeit spent heads to add texture!], Chelome…. the epitome of country charm!

  A view of the central border – albeit slightly skewed from where the photo was taken. It was a scorcher of a day and I knew that without fail the Petasites would have to be watered at just the right moment in order to ensure that it wasn’t flopping when the guests arrived.

I intuited that the guests would gravitate towards the shaded White Garden so encouraged that they enter the property at the potage, work their way down to the river and then back up around the central border and up into the shade. It worked, almost! I had to laugh, knowing that if I were a guest, I too would have made a beeline for the woodland garden.

  The guests arrived precisely to the minute and began milling around the property. I had contemplated a guided tour but shunned the idea when I pondered what I would look forward to as a participant. D and I were both on hand to answer any questions, and there were plenty! Did I have personal quarters on the property was the best!

The host of the tour, Frank Kershaw, kindly reciprocated with three pots of plants from his own garden, including the native yellow Lady Slipper Orchid. I simply couldn’t resist taking him to a sheltered spot within the woodland garden to show him where our Cypripedium reginae and Meconopsis grandis are planted. Methinks he realized at that precise moment that as a horticulturalist, I can hold my own, thank you very much! Sadly, with another garden yet to partake of, the tour was over in the blink of the eye!

Heartfelt thanks to D for allowing me this exciting opportunity to be an active participant in an event such as this. I have never entertained the idea of opening my garden to the public, but was more than reciprocated for the weeks of effort with the comments that we received.